


so we undo the math

by anupturnedboat



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Swan - Freeform, Character Study, Drabble, F/M, Romance, True Love, making math sexy, overthinking much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 02:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1587851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anupturnedboat/pseuds/anupturnedboat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.  ~S. Gudder</p><p>Post 3x20 drabble</p>
            </blockquote>





	so we undo the math

A permutation is an ordered combination of things. After Neal, after prison, Emma finds serenity in organizing her life by only the most important things. Staying focused on primary variables, whittling away non-essentials.

Before Henry knocked on her door it used to go something like this; money (enough to get to Tallahassee – or somewhere ( _anywhere_ ) on her own), starting over, staying sane.

Then the kid added himself and created a complicated equation. Then it was plus two, subtract one, and for the hell of it - some long division just to make her life that more insane.

For a time, before Neverland, the order of variables had rearranged themselves into a permutation that was more like; Henry, being a mom to Henry, making up for not being a mom to Henry, figuring out how she felt about David and Mary Margaret, and magic (whether she believed in it or not).

Selfishly, the equation included subtracting Regina out of the picture entirely, _but who was she kidding_ , this was her life now.

She hadn’t counted on a kiss and the resulting flurry of multiplication that followed. Declarations and flirtations, complicating the equation, changing that damn permutation.

Before she can form a hypothesis on where this leaves her now, a new life is added and the list reorders itself again. This time, addition feels like a good thing, and she smiles, for the first time in a long time.

David hands out cigars and she drinks a lot of champagne, more than she plans to, because she is kind of sloppy, until a hook slides under her elbow and guides her back to the empty loft. 

The permutation is of course being altered, she knows that the second she pulls him inside.

She has never been good at fractions or ratios. She has always been more of an odd or even number only kind of girl, but as he exhales against her skin she can feel him contemplating amounts. How much of one thing there is of another.

She kisses away his calculations.

His eyes are blue, and there is magic. No, not the kind that used to radiate through her, not the kind that made her the savior, but something sweeter, grounded, and true.

There is a point of symmetry - a blending of breath, a tangle of limbs, and a fragile moment when his lips kiss numbers across her collarbone.

 _Magic is really just math_ , she remembers Regina saying once.

His fingers flex against her hip, and all of her careful permutations, turn into simple math. One magic beanstalk, plus a pirate ship, divided by unequivocal affection, equals an understanding between two numbers of the same kind.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. I know nothing about math.


End file.
